Services in conventional distributed computing environments typically include service level agreements (SLAs). A service level agreement (SLA) is an agreement between a provider of a service and clients of the service that defines quality of service (QoS) guarantees and obligations of both the clients and of the service. The QoS guarantees, the service obligations and the client obligations are fulfilled by policy enforcement points (PEPs) that can be installed at the service and at the client. A policy enforcement point (PEP) is a logical entity that enforces policies specified in a SLA. In a conventional distributed computing environment, the service level agreement (SLA) and the PEPs associated with the SLA are hard coded into the service. The SLA and associated PEPs for a service are thus installed at the time that the service is deployed. To change the SLA and/or any of the PEPs in such conventional distributed computing systems, the service must be shut down, the SLA and/or PEPs must be rewritten, and the service must be redeployed. Therefore, any change to an SLA or to a PEP causes an interruption in service.